I think a couple people at our Acme thought I was a SS at around Easter this year. The store was crowded with last-minute shoppers, and I paused in front of the Easter candy to see what they had in the way of chocolate bunnies. I didn't even have a cart, and I was there for less than thirty seconds, but people were giving me the stink eye for standing in front of the candy. Crowds make me nervous, and I just grabbed a four-pack of Cadbury Creme Eggs and (escaped) got out of the way, and a woman immediately took my place while glaring at me out of the corner of her eye. Um...sorry?

So I explained to them that no, the computers were dedicated and they could not get on to the internet. They sat there, turning off the computers, turning them back on and typing in random logins and passwords and I repeated myself. "Uh-huh" and they kept going. So I repeated myself a third time and got "I HEARD YOU THE FIRST TIME, B****!" "Then why didn't you shut down?" "I don't have to do what you say!" They then informed me that I am a rude b***** for telling them they couldn't use the computers and they were leaving and not coming back. (Promise?) and, oh yes, because I am a rude b***** I should reconsider my career because I am not fit to work with the public.

Yeah. That made my day.

And then these patrons were banned from the library, right?

Oh, Shoo, if only. They were people we had never seen before, though extremely young (early twenties) and very self important. They stormed out before my boss or I could say anything further to them. Even if we could have said something, we have been told we cannot ban people for their bad behavior because it doesn't reflect well on US. Yeah, that's from our most special blizzard of all: Stoney and the Board.

Yesterday my entire class had a mandatory seminar in the chapel. One of the girls kept making comments like "This is such a nice chapel. Or at least it would be, if it didn't have 'Worship God" written everywhere. (Things like the Ten Commandments and verses are written on the walls in large lettering).

That's all well and good, but she could NOT let it go. She just kept going on and on about it and after her 30th incredulous comment about there being bibles in the pew I really wanted to ask her how she got into law school without knowing the definition of the word "chapel".

Yesterday my entire class had a mandatory seminar in the chapel. One of the girls kept making comments like "This is such a nice chapel. Or at least it would be, if it didn't have 'Worship God" written everywhere. (Things like the Ten Commandments and verses are written on the walls in large lettering).

That's all well and good, but she could NOT let it go. She just kept going on and on about it and after her 30th incredulous comment about there being bibles in the pew I really wanted to ask her how she got into law school without knowing the definition of the word "chapel".

That might belong in "Exchanges With People That Make Your Brain Hurt". It would be a lovely chapel if they got rid of all evidence of God, or worship? Well, perhaps, but then it would just be a lovely room.

Yesterday my entire class had a mandatory seminar in the chapel. One of the girls kept making comments like "This is such a nice chapel. Or at least it would be, if it didn't have 'Worship God" written everywhere. (Things like the Ten Commandments and verses are written on the walls in large lettering).

That's all well and good, but she could NOT let it go. She just kept going on and on about it and after her 30th incredulous comment about there being bibles in the pew I really wanted to ask her how she got into law school without knowing the definition of the word "chapel".

That might belong in "Exchanges With People That Make Your Brain Hurt". It would be a lovely chapel if they got rid of all evidence of God, or worship? Well, perhaps, but then it would just be a lovely room.

I thought about putting it in there, but people were basically stonewalling her or just muttering "mhmm" after awhile. It wasn't as much of an exchange as it was a one-woman show. And she just kept going on and on and on about it.

Yesterday my entire class had a mandatory seminar in the chapel. One of the girls kept making comments like "This is such a nice chapel. Or at least it would be, if it didn't have 'Worship God" written everywhere. (Things like the Ten Commandments and verses are written on the walls in large lettering).

That's all well and good, but she could NOT let it go. She just kept going on and on about it and after her 30th incredulous comment about there being bibles in the pew I really wanted to ask her how she got into law school without knowing the definition of the word "chapel".

Ooh, I remember one of those! The college I went to was originally a religious school and had a huge chapel (most would call it a cathedral) right in the middle of campus. It's not a religious school anymore, but the chapel seats 1500 people (by far the largest indoor seating on campus) so it's used for things like freshman orientation sessions, graduation ceremonies (not the official graduating part, just the associated optional stuff) and things like that. One guy in my freshman dorm just could not wrap his head around the idea that we were using a religious building for a non-religious academic reason. He let everyone know how offended he was at having to sit in such close proximity to religious icons (like pews and Bibles - I thought the chapel was pretty low-key, honestly) for our freshman "getting to know all the important people on campus" speech session. He was sitting right in front of me so I got to hear several grumpy comments before the guy sitting next to him told him to shut the expletive up.

Slarti, your story seems a bit different to me though. I can understand being a taken aback at enrolling in a non-religious (even if it was religious before, apparently it was secular at the time of the story right?) school but then finding myself having orientation in a cathedral. I didn't go to a secular university so I expected a good bit of exposure to and integration with religion, but if I just signed up for my state school and they sent me to a cathedral for orientation, I would raising my eyebrows pretty high.

Slarti, your story seems a bit different to me though. I can understand being a taken aback at enrolling in a non-religious (even if it was religious before, apparently it was secular at the time of the story right?) school but then finding myself having orientation in a cathedral. I didn't go to a secular university so I expected a good bit of exposure to and integration with religion, but if I just signed up for my state school and they sent me to a cathedral for orientation, I would raising my eyebrows pretty high.

Well, if it's the only building on campus that can comfortably accommodate the number of people at an event, and there is no religious activity involved, I don't know that it would bother me. You use the facility that best suits the logistical needs of the event.

Slarti, your story seems a bit different to me though. I can understand being a taken aback at enrolling in a non-religious (even if it was religious before, apparently it was secular at the time of the story right?) school but then finding myself having orientation in a cathedral. I didn't go to a secular university so I expected a good bit of exposure to and integration with religion, but if I just signed up for my state school and they sent me to a cathedral for orientation, I would raising my eyebrows pretty high.

Well, if it's the only building on campus that can comfortably accommodate the number of people at an event, and there is no religious activity involved, I don't know that it would bother me. You use the facility that best suits the logistical needs of the event.

I am at a state school and the chapel is usually the building we go to for events like the one we had the other day. It just happens to be the building that fits the most people, aside from the law lecture hall, which is sometimes booked up for events only 2l's and 3l's are required to participate in. There's never anything religious going on, not even "fringe" things like having a moment of silence or abstractly requesting that a higher power let us have a good lecture. At the school I went to for college this was the norm as well-book the chapel if another hall wasn't available. Plus, it's never a shock when we have to go there. It says on our schedule at least a week in advance that we report to the chapel for whatever special lecture we're having as a group.

I wouldn't have any problem going to a strictly secular event that happened to be held in a house of worship. We've gone to several in Unitarian churches and synagogues.

After all, RPI installed one of their course labs in a deconsecrated church. If you think about it, the reuse of the space was oddly appropriate.

It has been going on for a long time. In "Little Town on the Prairie" Laura's school exhibition was held in the church because there wasn't enough room in the schoolhouse to fit everyone in who wanted to see it. Sometimes being practical has to take precedence.

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"The Universe puts us in places where we can learn. They are never easy places, but they are right. Wherever we are, it's the right place and the right time. Pain that sometimes comes is part of the process of constantly being born." - Delenn to Sheridan: "Babylon 5 - Distant Star"